Humanity, Dignity and Love
Do you know how special you are? How loved you are? Do you know that no matter what you do right or wrong God can not love you any less than loving all of you? Do you know that in your worst moments of loneliness, sadness and ugly crying that you have a God that loves every part of you and wants to comfort you? God cares about each one of our sorrows no matter how big or complicated or overwhelming they are. He knows your past, what you have done, what you have failed to do, and He loves you and wants to hold your hand through each day to come.
You were created for a beautiful reason and are a child of God (even if you don't want to be). And the most beautiful thing God gave you was freedom to choose right from wrong. Freedom to enjoy the beauty of nature. Freedom to have a mind that can learn independently and with individual intelligence. He created our humanity, our fragility and our mortality.
The readings from this week at Sunday mass really spoke to me. They state, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you." Jeremiah 1:4-5. You were known to God's heart and loved even before your mom knew she was carrying you in her uterus.
At what point did we stop believing that we are worthy of love, worthy of dignity and worthy of humanity? On January 23, 2019 Govenor Cuomo of NY approved a law ( BILL NUMBER: S2796) permitting ending the life of a baby up to the time of birth. Ending a life up until the time the baby can be born...
This law has shown how our humanity, dignity and love are failing us in society. Will it one day be ok to set up a guillotine outside of a woman's vagina so that the baby can be killed before he or she breathes their first breath? Is that what we are coming to? This law essentially states that.
Where did these lies begin? I can't answer for all but I can answer for myself. For me, as a woman, the lies on my body and who I am supposed to believe I am began in high school. And I suspect they started that they began that way for others too.
Lies that challenged young women's dignity, humanity and love were some of these in high school:
In college the lies became:
As an adult the lies are:
I shared the tears with several waitresses who became pregnant in drunken parties or nights with their lover. They cried for their unplanned pregnancy. They fretted over what would happen to their future and two of them decided the best thing would be to end the life of their child. One got drunk and threw herself down the stairs in a fit of panic. The other made an appointment for an abortion and became incredibly depressed afterwards, slitting her wrists. It was so hard and awful to see these two women I grew to love go through this. They believed the lies of what they would become as single mothers.
What has happened to us? Why must we be blinded by loud voices of lies and not see the truth for what it is? You are special. I am special. You are loved. I am loved. Governor Cuomo is loved by God. What he did, signing the death warrant for bonafide babies, is horrific, but he is still a dearly loved child of God who needs to repent. But where has our humanity gone?
Are all laws correct? No! There were laws in favor of slavery. Laws in favor of beating your wife. Laws stopping education, voting and protection of women. Laws that favored horrific genocides. Laws fail us when they are wrong. Laws lie to us when they are wrong. With each wrong law there were good people risking their reputation and life to stand up for what was right. And the polarized public opinions that spout angry words don't help either. But think, friends, think of when life is created.
The miracle of life begins with the first moment of conception. That is when it happened for Jesus, and when Mary began her life of faith. He had a name then. When you started your journey of life where did it begin? If we can see that it begins when we are created then that changes everything, friends and helps us see that we need to fight for life.
Seeing that life begins when you are formed, changes the game.
You don't need to switch sides to loving guns, wearing a MAGA hat and saying nasty racist things. (Believing that is a lie) It is the opposite in fact. Choosing to defend life, and life of the tiniest and most vulnerable human beings, is about the highest form of dignity you can show a fellow human being. I realize when I see a pregnant mom that there are two people, not one, two souls, two feelings, two guardian angels, and two people who deserve love, dignity and respect for their humanity.
What kind of programs could we have for mother's in crisis if we really believed that their child is a human? What kind of fights would we have to end systemic racism that targets women of color and provides them with messages against the life they carry? What kind of love would we share with women who are depressed and struggling with their broken relationships and have a life inside of them? How much of our time and resources would we give to ensure that women know their bodies are special and loved and are worthy of dignity? What are we afraid to challenge in ourselves? Things we have come to believe because our identity has been formed by that? What would happen if you looked at some of those identities and asked yourself if it is really true.
If life starts at conception, how would that change your identity? It's scary. But it is real. There are tiny humans who need us to look at ourselves and fight for them saying that it is not ok to hurt them.
Lastly, I was looking at the birds this afternoon. They were in the sky flying with energy. The temperature having gone up from 5 Fahrenheit to 55 Fahrenheit and I thought of how strong they were to withstand the temperature drop that they were not created for. There are some external elements that can kill the birds. And I remembered the verse in the Bible on birds and God's love for them, "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" Matthew 6:26.
How much more are we loved than birds? God created us and gave us our humanity, dignity and the possibility to love. Let's not cover the eyes of our heart to that and speak up.
You were created for a beautiful reason and are a child of God (even if you don't want to be). And the most beautiful thing God gave you was freedom to choose right from wrong. Freedom to enjoy the beauty of nature. Freedom to have a mind that can learn independently and with individual intelligence. He created our humanity, our fragility and our mortality.
The readings from this week at Sunday mass really spoke to me. They state, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you." Jeremiah 1:4-5. You were known to God's heart and loved even before your mom knew she was carrying you in her uterus.
 |
| God knew you, loved you and wanted you here even before this moment. |
At what point did we stop believing that we are worthy of love, worthy of dignity and worthy of humanity? On January 23, 2019 Govenor Cuomo of NY approved a law ( BILL NUMBER: S2796) permitting ending the life of a baby up to the time of birth. Ending a life up until the time the baby can be born...
 |
| The life of this sweet little baby could have been ended moments before, per the new law. |
This law has shown how our humanity, dignity and love are failing us in society. Will it one day be ok to set up a guillotine outside of a woman's vagina so that the baby can be killed before he or she breathes their first breath? Is that what we are coming to? This law essentially states that.
 |
| Will this be next in delivery wards? |
Where did these lies begin? I can't answer for all but I can answer for myself. For me, as a woman, the lies on my body and who I am supposed to believe I am began in high school. And I suspect they started that they began that way for others too.
Lies that challenged young women's dignity, humanity and love were some of these in high school:
- You are worthy if you dress sexy
- It is your fault if you are raped for being drunk
- If you are pregnant you will be a loser
- If you are pregnant no one will want to marry you
- Everyone will think you are a slut if you get pregnant
In college the lies became:
- Sex is casual and there is no moral compass. What anyone feels is right for them.
- If you are educated and believe that women deserve equal respect, pay and education, then you also believe that they can chose abortion.
- Don't talk about abortion unless you are pro-choice because otherwise doing so makes you a fanatic.
- Pro-Choice is nice: it also is against guns, nice to animals, and respects others opinion
- Pro-life is crazy: it loves guns, hates immigrants, and screams over your opinion
As an adult the lies are:
- Side with one opinion or stay silent because you can't have both.
- Don't even think about talking about a pregnancy as a child because it is offensive.
I shared the tears with several waitresses who became pregnant in drunken parties or nights with their lover. They cried for their unplanned pregnancy. They fretted over what would happen to their future and two of them decided the best thing would be to end the life of their child. One got drunk and threw herself down the stairs in a fit of panic. The other made an appointment for an abortion and became incredibly depressed afterwards, slitting her wrists. It was so hard and awful to see these two women I grew to love go through this. They believed the lies of what they would become as single mothers.
 |
| There are angels with each mother and with each child she has in her womb. |
Are all laws correct? No! There were laws in favor of slavery. Laws in favor of beating your wife. Laws stopping education, voting and protection of women. Laws that favored horrific genocides. Laws fail us when they are wrong. Laws lie to us when they are wrong. With each wrong law there were good people risking their reputation and life to stand up for what was right. And the polarized public opinions that spout angry words don't help either. But think, friends, think of when life is created.
The miracle of life begins with the first moment of conception. That is when it happened for Jesus, and when Mary began her life of faith. He had a name then. When you started your journey of life where did it begin? If we can see that it begins when we are created then that changes everything, friends and helps us see that we need to fight for life.
 |
| This 14 week baby was alive for 15 minutes, almost one minute per week, before he died. |
 |
| This baby was 15 weeks old. Is he not beautiful? |
Seeing that life begins when you are formed, changes the game.
You don't need to switch sides to loving guns, wearing a MAGA hat and saying nasty racist things. (Believing that is a lie) It is the opposite in fact. Choosing to defend life, and life of the tiniest and most vulnerable human beings, is about the highest form of dignity you can show a fellow human being. I realize when I see a pregnant mom that there are two people, not one, two souls, two feelings, two guardian angels, and two people who deserve love, dignity and respect for their humanity.
What kind of programs could we have for mother's in crisis if we really believed that their child is a human? What kind of fights would we have to end systemic racism that targets women of color and provides them with messages against the life they carry? What kind of love would we share with women who are depressed and struggling with their broken relationships and have a life inside of them? How much of our time and resources would we give to ensure that women know their bodies are special and loved and are worthy of dignity? What are we afraid to challenge in ourselves? Things we have come to believe because our identity has been formed by that? What would happen if you looked at some of those identities and asked yourself if it is really true.
If life starts at conception, how would that change your identity? It's scary. But it is real. There are tiny humans who need us to look at ourselves and fight for them saying that it is not ok to hurt them.
 |
| We are all worth love and respect for our humanity. |
Lastly, I was looking at the birds this afternoon. They were in the sky flying with energy. The temperature having gone up from 5 Fahrenheit to 55 Fahrenheit and I thought of how strong they were to withstand the temperature drop that they were not created for. There are some external elements that can kill the birds. And I remembered the verse in the Bible on birds and God's love for them, "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" Matthew 6:26.
How much more are we loved than birds? God created us and gave us our humanity, dignity and the possibility to love. Let's not cover the eyes of our heart to that and speak up.
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